TEXT: Bizim English by Alev ALATLI

Today, a student mingling with English either this or that way for years, cannot put two words together about his/her own life,education, background or interests as a result of that traditional education is still survival in Turkey. It seems that even English experts, who can complete their education in immersion programme of schools, do not know the words, the parts of Turkey's life such as 'Üsküdar Dock, Babaili Hill, mud brick and rosary'. Again, a student trying to learn English with traditional education has to learn words and nouns such as giraffe, pig or Big Ben, which never take part in his/her life primarily. Instead, the words, a particular concern to him/her, are 'School of Business Administration, headship, Certificate of Graduation, charge, government office and fee'. For example, over 2000 English words are determined to teach in English schedule, at least two hours in a week during secondary education. Turkish Republic, the star and crescent, the Ottoman Empire and mohammedanism are not encountered in these words which the student cannot abandon when s/he tries to tell his/her own culture. On the contrary, the words unrelated to his/her own culture and life are encountered frequently. All in all, when a Turk who knows English comes across a foreigner, s/he has difficulty in telling topics on which s/he can speak. That one of the reasons that Turkey cannot make itself known abroad for years is whether the deficiency arises from foreign language education also can be a debatable topic.

We find the solution of foreign language education problem that will prevent students' alienation and participation in 'foreign language retiree' army with increasing boredom in using materials arising Turkey in Turkish Education Institutions. Apart from English learning materials whose origins are England and America, it's natural that foreign experts, even they have been living in Turkey for years, cannot know the needs of Turkish students as Turkish teachers do. Since they cannot comprehend life and understanding ways of Turkish students, which are different in terms of culture, the materials prepared by these experts are hard to be successful considering Turkish students' lives.


Comment: It's easy for me to translate this article. The words are easy to translate because I'm familiar with these words and terms. I translated this article with word for word translation because the words have the equivalances in Turkish.